It’s looking more and more like UK is heading to Jacksonville for a New Year’s Eve bowl.
SEC Country’s Joe Mussatto spoke with TaxSlayer Bowl president Rick Catlett, who confirmed that UK is a major player for this bowl, so long as Alabama beats Florida in the SEC Championship this weekend.
That result would likely send the Gators to the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida, leaving UK to swoop in and take the TaxSlayer Bowl bid.
“That scenario, if that would take place, Kentucky is the major contender for our bowl game,” Catlett said. “I think that would put Kentucky on the top of our list.”
Catlett added, “I think we feel really strongly about Kentucky and I think there’s a good chance they’ll play in our bowl game this year.”
Even Catlett sees the importance of getting to this bowl would be for UK, who has been to mostly lower-tier bowls in the last 16 years.
“They haven’t been to a bowl game in a while and haven’t been to a bowl game to the stature of ours in a while,” Catlett said. “Their fanbase is tremendous. That would make them very appealing to us.”
We already know UK is among eight teams the TaxSlayer Bowl is considering, four of which being from the SEC, while the other four come from the ACC. UK vs Georgia Tech looks like the slight favorite to be this bowl’s matchup.